FOR A SERIOUS EFFORT TO MOBILIZE OPPOSITION TO THE VIETNAM WARFOR UNCOMPROMISING SUPPORT FOR THE RIGHTS AND STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING PEOPLEFOR NATIONALIZATION OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAYFOR THE BUILDING OF A MASS NDP YOUTH MOVEMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF INTERNAL PARTY DEMOCRACY

Published by the Socialist Caucus for the consideration of the 1967 Federal NDF convention. Caucus convention headquarters: Green Room, Walker House Hotel (3 minutes from the convention floor) 121 Front St. W., Phone: EM 3-4041. After the convention: Box 872, Station F, Toronto, Ontario. Produced by voluntary labour.

In the two years since the last convention the Party’s prospects for power have increased considerably. To a certain degree this increased support is due to the recognition by sections of the working people of the need for their own political party and a conscious abandonment of the parties of the corporate elite. But to a larger extent, as analysts have pointed out, it is based not on a clear programmatic alternative but on the disarray and unattractiveness of the old line parties. We maintain this later kind of support is built on sand. To build a firmly rooted mass political movement with the power and stamina to survive the attacks and shifts of the opposition, the Party must offer a program which gets at the roots of the problems of the working people.

THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM IS THE ROOT OF THE MAJOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND SO THE NECESSARY PROGRAM IS A SOCIALIST PROGRAM. THE CORE OF THIS PROGRAM IS THE CREATION OF A PLANNED ECONOMY BASED ON THE PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF THE BASIC INDUSTRIES UNDER THE DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF THE WORKING PEOPLE.

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

One of the biggest economic problems facing Canadian working people are the effects of the anarchy of the railway transportation system. The core of this problem is the privately- owned Canadian Pacific Railway. In our opinion the case for nationalization of the CPR has been made many times and the Party is now called upon to raise this demand and through its campaigns as it moves towards power, and prepare itself for its implementation.

Since Canadian farmers through the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the National Farmers Union have adopted this policy, a similar NDP policy would serve to mould farmer-labour unity on a programmatic level. The Alberta NDP has called for nationalization of the CPR. To put meaning into this policy it must become a federal plank.

The validity of the demand becomes clear when the past record and present role of the CPR is examined. The picture presented is profit at the expense of service. Instead of being an instrument for national development, the CPR has become a fetter on the economy. For those who say the CPR could be “controlled” there is no supporting evidence for such a claim. A corporation of such power will continually seek loopholes in legislation if not simply ignore it.

CPR shareholders from the beginning have raked in large profits from the railway auxilliary enterprises: hotel, mining, airlines, etc. But in addition it has scandalously milked the public purse. Bill Dodge in the March 1964 CCF Comment, states that in the period since its inception in 1880 to 1940, the CPR received cash grants from all levels of government amounting to 119.1 million dollars. In addition, it has received land grants including mineral rights to 36.9 million acres.

In 1965 this corporation had an estimated 1.3 billion dollars in assets, netted 44 million plus another 19 million through its wholly owned holding company, Canadian Pacific Investments—profiting off the land grants previously mentioned.

A striking contrast to this picture is the publicly owned Canadian National Railway, formed by bailing out a number of bankrupt lines during the depression. The government laid out 100 million dollars to renew rolling stock and 90 million to
turn the hodge-podge of lines into an integrated transcontinental system, as well as $804 million in accumulated debts.

As of 1954, the net capital debt of the CNR was one and a half billion (Canadian dollars -ed.) with the former owners still being paid. Small wonder the CNR requires an annual subsidy when this financial burden is compounded by the fact that the CNR serves less profitable areas and takes the risks of new development thus serving the needs of the CPR and big business in general.

From any view the Canadian people in one way or another, whether through poor transportation facilities, high costs, government subsidies are paying for the huge profits of the CPR. It is equally clear that over the year the Canadian workers and farmers have paid for the CPR many times over. Thus there can be no argument against adopting a policy which intends to give the Canadian people what is already theirs.

A rational, cheap, efficient transportation system is a vital need for Canadian working people. Nationalization of the CPR is the key to such a system. The NDP can demonstrate its

THE YOUTH MOVEMENT AND INTERNAL DEMOCRACY

The development of a powerful and efficient electoral machine is necessary for any party serious about taking power. But it is also true that meaningful power—power which can bring about the society we want requires a rooted and politically active mass base.

In our opinion the Party has tended to substitute an electoral machine for this politically active mass base. Riding associations tend to be shells to be activated during election campaigns. Party life has been reduced to the activity of the various provincial and municipal offices and paid staff. Conventions are more pep rallies than serious discussions of Party policy. There is a general acceptance of the concept that organization is everything and program and political discussion fruitless wasteful pastimes we cannot afford. Policy should be left mainly to the professionals. As a result of these trends the democratic structure of the Party tends increasingly to be without meaningful living content.

This development is a reflection of the party’s reformist program which projects social change through the manoeuvers and abilities of statesmen at the top rather than the mobilization of the people on the basis of a program for fundamental change.

The logic of this approach is expressed clearly in the developments in the youth movement. Here the drive by the Party to control and supervise it, in effect to destroy its autonomy has resulted in the elimination of the youth movement as a means of attracting radical youth to the ranks of the NDP. In Ontario, the YND has been reduced to a mere committtee of the Party with an appallingly low 150 members.

This attitude to what could be a vibrant politically active youth movement is a reflection of the general problem. In contrast to the youth where the caucuses of the right and left have flourished, the Party since its inception has never seen open, fraternal debate of fundamentally different views. Socialists have been continually expelled and red-baited (from the NDY and NDP -ed.), the most recent being the Ontario expulsions of last May.

The political witch hunt has characterized much of the internal life and in these periods the democratic rights of the membership have been ignored. The myth has been created that the present liberal reformist program is permanent and that Left criticism is tantamount to disloyalty to the Party.

The implications of this situation are enormous. Without a viable youth movement the Party’s future is considerably weaker. Without local organization which seriously discusses policy the Party loses one of its chief attractions—that of a political movement responsive to and controlled by the grass roots. It means a political organization which, despite its considerable resources and staff, is dead on its feet. The British Labour Party has not solved the problems of the British working people. The witch hunt, destruction of the youth movement, ossification of the local organizations, and the substitution of a machine for a movement are features of the BLP at this time.

These internal conditions lend credence to the saying that “all political parties and politicians are the same". Many New Democrats are disturbed by them. Steps should be taken to correct them. Concretely this means: 1) The building of a mass youth movement, autonomous and free to respond to the needs of Canadian youth. 2) Affirmation of the right of party minorities to organize caucuses within the party. 3) Opportunities guaranteed for minorities to present their views in the Party press. 4) Rigid adherence to procedures which protect the democratic rights of the membership. The building of a mass youth movement in the context of the flowering of internal democracy would go a long way to developing the kind of mass committed strength the Party needs.

WHAT IS THE SOCIALIST CAUCUS?

The Socialist Caucus is a grouping of members of the New Democratic Party who agree on the necessity to win the NDP to a socialist program.

We are concerned with the tendency of the Party as it moves closer to power to support the evils of a social system it has vowed to change. We have seen this happen to the British Labour Party which now supports a war to make the world safe for capitalism and the scourge of unemployment as a cure for economic ills.

We see the NDP, Canada’s labour party, as a tremendous and inspiring advancement for the Canadian working people, but maintain that the present program of liberal reforms will fail to bring about the economic and political democracy we desire.

We reject the panaceas of labour-management cooperation, and an independent Canadian capitalism, and stand by the basic concept of the Regina Manifesto, the founding document of the CCF, which called for the establishment of a socialist society—based on a publicly-owned and controlled planned economy as a first step to solving the problems of war, insecurity, alienation, discrimination, and unemployment.

Reading ListThe Socialist Caucus Bulletin—A news and discussion bulletin written by and for socialists in the NDP, who recognize the need to organize to bring a socialist program to the NDP. It is hoped that the bulletin which originated after the 1965 Federal Convention, will serve to organize and contribute to the development of socialist thought and forces within the NDP. Issues of the Bulletin are circulated to interested members of the party and costs are met through the donations of its readers. Order through Box 872, Station F, Toronto, Ontario.Manifesto for Alberta Socialists—Produced by the Alberta Socialist Caucus in the NDP. 25 cents: Box 5765, Edmonton, Alta.Ontario Socialist Caucus Program—Mail requests with donation c/o Secretary-Treasurer, Don O. Box 872, Station F, Toronto, Ontario.Canada/Vietnam_Newsletter—The Canadian Voice of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement. $1.00 for 12 issues Box 141, Station F, Toronto, Ontario. The B.C. Forest Industry and the NDP, Monopoly or Public Ownership—produced by the Socialist Caucus of the BC NDP. 25cents. Write to Nick Shugalo c/o 2981 West 23rd Avenue, Vancouver, B.C.The Myth of Swedish Socialism—Produced by the Ontario Socialist caucus. 15 cents. Order from Box 872 Station F, Toronto, Ontario.